Happy Tales and Trails

Winslow AZ

Standing on the corner of Winslow AZ, what a fine sight to see, a girl my Lord in a bright red flatbed ford slowing down to take a look at me

We found our way to Winslow, looking for my past, Dad was born there and Grandma and Grandpa were business owners in the early 1900’s. Time seems to have stood still pretty much in this town, which was great luck for me.

Grandma at the corner by the Double Dip Fountain.

When Grandpa passed, Grandma opened a fountain called the Double Dip.. Which according to the 1937 Spring Flagstaff Telephone Directory was on the corner of 2nd and Kinsley Ave, which I believe to now be either of these.

Double Dip?

Not sure…but I did find Dad’s house

School Mascot…

So enough of my history… there is a beautiful Hotel there named La Posada “the resting place” Fred Harvey decided to build this grand hotel along the Santa Fe Railroad in the 1920’s. The construction costs alone were in excess of $1,000,000.00 in 1929. Total cost were rumored at $2,000,000.00 which included the grounds and furnishings, in todays world this would be just around $40,000,000.00. Winslow was selected for it’s Northern Arizona location, most things to do there are within a days drive.
Fred Harvey famous for attention to detail and fine furnishing of the Hotels along the Santa Fe, and of course the Harvey Girls, Judy Garland stared in the movie, The Harvey Girls, about these girls.
The Hotel opened May 15th 1930, just after the stock market crash of 1929. The Hotel remained open for just 27 years. It closed for good in 1957, all the beautiful furnishing being auctioned off, and threats for years to come by the railroad to demolish the grand structure.
In 1997 Daniel Lutzick and his wife Tina moved in and started the restructuring of the beauty. It today is a living museum. A must see on your visit to Arizona. I took a few photos to share with you.

Cooled entering the La Pasada

Entering the courtyard

Courtyard water feature

Beautiful art is around each corner

Entrance back to the hotel…. from courtyard.

So much to see and no time to stay, our day was long and we had to head out…. next time I will be laying my head to sleep here…. now this grand hotel also has a history of ghost sightings… cant wait! I wonder if there is a supernatural lens for my camera?

Love you Grandma

Posted By Sharon Grannis on May 4, 2014 |Filed Under: Happy Tales and Trails • Tagged With: haunted hotels, La Posada Hotel, Santa Fe Hotels, standing on the corner, Winslow

Winslow AZ

My fathers, father passed when he was 8, his mother passed when I was 16, he passed when I was in my thirties. He was an only child, his latest wife refused to give us his personal belongings and with his passing so did much of our history.

Being a child of a divorced family there really isn’t those family nights of tales of childhoods. My past is pretty much a mystery and I feel much regret for not finding out more as I grew older… never thought they would leave I guess.

So I am excited for this weekend as I have located my Grandfathers plot in Winslow AZ and going to see what I can trace backwards….

Wish me luck.

Posted By Sharon Grannis on April 21, 2014 |Filed Under: Happy Tales and Trails •

Bisbee AZ

Street Corner Wall

Cooled and I spent Saturday in Bisbee last weekend. Bisbee a mining town of copper, was founded in 1880 and named after one of the monetary backers, Judge Dewitt Bisbee. It was the largest town in the early 1900’s from St. Louis to San Francisco, with population of over 20,000 . In the mid 1970’s it became unprofitable, and the town was attractive to many artists and free sprits and has been home to many artist since. The town is still pretty much in tact and the old homes and buildings are still occupied making it a charming community.

Wall art

When we drove into town I just knew this was going to be a fun place… even the walls had been painted. This is nestled between homes along the historic road into the town. It brought the song Happy to mind, ” clap along if you feel like a room without a roof, because I’m happy”. It just made me happy to see it…

Wall of Peace

Just around the corner from the “Happy Room” was the Peace Wall, the 70’s are being reunited in my soul… this town is calling me home. This is just the type of art I would sit in class and draw, memories flood my mind.

Heading into town

The town is nestled against the Mule Mountains, the historic district is on a long winding sloped street. The town was rebuilt in the early 1900’s after a fire and most of the buildings are still in tact, the buildings just speak of how the community was at its peak.

Grand Hotel

This is the Grand Hotel, still in operation!

The Salon in the Hotel

The Salon in the Hotel is still serving and was just amazing how it hasn’t changed. You can just feel the spirit of the old west here, and the other kind of sprits still being poured.

Some of the Buildings

Buildings

Store signs

Wine Tasting

Alley Ways

In between the buildings were alley ways with vendors displaying their art work. This alley was occupied with an two artist, a jewelry maker and a women who hand painted scarfs, along with a purveyor of coffee.

Walkway

Painted walls

Every corner turns up surprises, little back alleys with painted walls.

Best use of real estate

Homes built in every inch

Bisbee was a thriving community and by the way these homes were built over the cannels I am going to say real estate must have been hard to come by. I am not sure I would sleep knowing that my home was on a bridge.. remember I am a California native and earthquakes are big part of my history.. this would not work well in earthquake country.
I recommend a visit to this charming town, one day really isn’t enough plan a weekend trip.

Posted By Sharon Grannis on April 20, 2014 |Filed Under: Happy Tales and Trails • Tagged With: art district, Bisbee, copper towns, minning towns

Day Two The Mardi Gras

Our morning starts with a hot breakfast, coffee and then right to getting ready to ride! We go out in groups and today we are in group 4 of 6. Patt French and Val Silva our ride leaders… Since I have time I grab my camera and head out to photo group 2 heading out for their 5 hour ride. The gals are so sweet and stop along the way to allow me to take their pictures. Thank you guys!

The Parade

Rocky Mountain Horse? Is it?

Pretty pony

This is Sam he was next to me in camp, Paula’s mule, he is my boyfriend. I miss him.

Yvonne and her pretty

Our group leaves on time and we head out… Val and I in the rear looking forward to our day. Our ride will be 4.5 hours and we are looking forward to the new riding area for us. As we head out, Patt French our trail leader is tossed from her horse and it is serious. We send the nurses on the ride in to assist and we all pray for Patt. She isn’t able to get up and 911 is called for assistance. The ride continues, and well Hank is not going along with this group today, he bucks, bucks and then bucks some more I dismount and the ride leaves us behind… Well we are resourceful and take out in the opposite direction on our own. Not as much fun, but we allow the other riders to be safe and I can school my darn horse without endangering others. Our day is nice, but of course not as fun as if we were with our group. We find an active mine and have lunch while finding incredible stones everywhere. We head back and the ride comes in shortly thereafter. Time to get ready for the Mardi Gras!

The tent has been decorated and the air is filled with laughter. Let the night begin.

It seems they lost their B

Tonight should be fun.

Selfie

Love this one

So creative

My BFF Val.. love the cup its a red solo cup kindda night for sure.

The twins

You tell me this isn’t serious partying

This young lady was just beautiful.

The evening begins.

I think this is Dana… but after all the wine I might have got her name wrong… Dana is that you.

The Party starts

A fellow AZ gal…

BFF again… Hi Val

Okay the one man in the room and he wont even look at the girls. So darn funny and my entertainment of the evening.

Our Table… see my Paperboy Wine Bottle… so perfect for riding.

Again the young and beautiful… she was adorable.

Bras off….

Back on… kinda of.

So you get the idea of the energy and fun, it was a wonderful time. The evening ends around 11 and we head back to our campgrounds.
The next day is the last group ride but we awake to Pie being rather sluggish and not eating or drinking well. We elect to not go on the ride and push him. Pie is about 23 and the funniest horse I ever had the pleasure of spending time with. He has been Val’s buddy for many years and our camping buddy always.
We get him settled and drinking again and head into town for lunch, Wickenburg is our target.

Downtown Wickenburg

Upon return from our outing Pie isn’t doing much better and we get the attending Vet, Dr. Raenell Killian, after a long process of getting Pi fluids we take off to Cave Creek to get him emergency attention. Pi’s outcome isn’t good and we say goodbye to our good friend.

We want to thank all the Ladies who sat up with us Saturday night. We are forever grateful and Val appreciates you all. The campfire you built for us the dinners you delivered and the hot coffee to help keep us awake. It was a long journey for me to complete this post, I attempted it so many times, the loss of our friend is hard to tell and my dear friend Val is still suffering. When we reconnected with our friends from the ride we find out that at Saturday nights dinner it is announced that this will be the last Happy Hooffer ride. We are saddened by the news.
Riding is one of lives most incredible pleasures, you are able to enjoy places that you could not without a horse. It allows you to step away from the stress of your life and become connected to one of God’s most loved animals. The bond between rider and horse is so strong and it becomes more than rider and horse. I have heard it said that a horse is just a tool, but I say to them you are a tool……

May your views between the ears remind you to live your life like someone left the gate open……

Posted By Sharon Grannis on March 23, 2014 |Filed Under: Happy Tales and Trails •

Happy Hoofers Day One’s Ride

Our first morning ride is a warm-up ride and we head out around 10:20. The horses are happy to be out and Hank is more active than usual. He really is not acting right and after investigating it seems I have his curb chain so tight it is hurting him. Bad mom. After a tack adjustment he is back to his old self and lagging behind, head down wondering where he might find some green grass. Not much of that around as you can see in this photo. The group is fun no drama, horses are all good we take our nice warm up ride through the hillside. When you have a ride without incident, its a good ride!

We pass on our trail a small cemetery, I am told that buried there are families that fell to an attack, not sure what type and was not able to stop and read the history marker. Maybe one of the Hoofers on the trip can solve this mystery for me. Thats our buddy Pie looking at the site!

This is a photo or our trail leaders, they did a great job and we appreciate their time and service to this great group of riders. Thank you both for your time and bringing us safely through the desert on our first ride out!
We return to camp get the horses set, fresh water and some treats for their service to us and off to the chair race. It seems that we bring a chair to the large tent, fight for a spot at the table you want to sit. Well Val and I had to get our products together as we were going to participate in the vendor tables. I brought my husbands cooling vests and Val her daughters jewelry, so we left our chairs in the hands of Cindy-Ann and Carmen… we scored a great table with other new riders… Thanks Cindy-Ann and Carmen!

Well the night events are upon us and the first night is a wonderful meal, with free flowing beer and wine, along with the weekends announcements and awards. The dinner is catered freshly prepared at the site. The meals are hot, plentiful and serving all dietary types, Yummo.
Our MC is Geneil and she is entertaining and commands the room with confidence and gets this rowdy group even rowdier.. awards are given to the helpers, trail leaders and then to the Hoofers who have 5 years plus attendance on the ride. When you hit the five year mark you receive a directors chair. The following photos are of some of the prior years chairs and pinned to them are the leather chair markers, which are given to you upon arrival. As you can see many of these ladies have been on the ride for many years.

This is mine!

Our first day comes to an end and we are all off to our designated campsites. Val and I call it a night early and look forward to day 2, which is really 3 as we came early. Tomorrows ride is for 4.5 hours and we head out at 9:45 with breakfast at 7 we are looking forward to our ride!
This is our campsite!

Oh and did I mention I was also car camping.. I came from the Phoenix area in AZ to meet up with Val and our horses who came from Riverside Ca…. fun times.

This is the last mild post….. as the Marde Gras starts the following night!!!! I promise the photos will be approved for all age viewing!

Posted By Sharon Grannis on March 5, 2014 |Filed Under: Happy Tales and Trails, Uncategorized • Tagged With: desert rides, happy hoofers, horse camping, women horse rides

Smith and Western Online.com

The Trailer

I found this adorable clothing vendor while visiting West World this weekend. Now my intention was not to shop but to photograph West World prior to the big event there next month… it seems once again I was sidetracked. The trailer of course is adorable, retro teardrop style refurbished to display their oh so fashionable clothing. I found brands I had not known of prior, that fit my style…. Double D. Fun styles with a relaxed style.

I did manage to get at least some shots.

So there was a Quarter Horse show happening at what I thought would be an empty venue for my photo shoot. So me without my horses here in AZ got quite distracted between the incredible smell of horse in the air and the excitement of all things equine. So in the vendor barn there were many things to see, but after meeting Dolores at the Smith and Western Online booth all I could think about was sharing their wonderful site and store.

The Logo

This is Bucking Betty, the mascot for Smith and Western Online, I think her and Women Wine and Whinnies Cowgirl could be great friends. What do you think? You know we need to give our Cowgirl a name!
Smith and Western Online has a store front in Wickenburg AZ which I plan on visiting soon, Dolores tells me they are only open on the weekends so remember that… but you can visit them 24/7 online and shop till your hearts content.

Just to melt your heart

Well we have to end this post with the cutest little Corgie, besides Miss Gracie, she was hanging out at the event. Just couldn’t resist posting her cute self.

Posted By Sharon Grannis on January 26, 2014 |Filed Under: Happy Tales and Trails • Tagged With: Double D, Quarter horse, Smith and Western online, West World

Cave Creek, AZ

We start our journey at a saloon in Cave Creek where “bikers” love to frequent. It is packed, I think it is due to the beautiful weather and the Balloon Festival, but it seems it might be for the charity fund raiser, an arms auction. Wow, where else but AZ could you attend an auction for weapons of largeness, in a bar no less…. I was amazed.

Just across the street is an other saloon, Buffalo Chip, or was it Harold’s… not sure but there behind the saloon is an arena and in it a man riding a buffalo. Here is the Buffalo on his break. I love this town… back where I come from the only bar entertainment is live music or things we wont post here.

Posted By Sharon Grannis on January 6, 2014 |Filed Under: Happy Tales and Trails •

A Mothers Worry

I awoke Friday morning in my little home without heat, note to self call the heater guy, with the dreaded apprehension of my daughters surgery.

So thankful to be here for her, but so nervous. It is hard to be Mom and without the ability to make it better. Do we ever loose that need? Is it not our job to make things right? I know she is an adult with children of her own, a grown woman who has made her way in life, but inside she is still my little girl, last born, my baby.

We walk the long walk to the door and kiss goodbye, hide your tears mom dont let her see you fall apart. Pray. We sit in the lobby helplessly waiting for the time to pass until we can see her. I wonder how it is going, and think would it not be great to get a blow by blow as it happens! Maybe earphones that are hooked to a system in the operating room and the surgical team could give us updates…. Well maybe that might not be so great, I would settle for just updates, like “doing good” “all is well” “she is a rock star”……

Do our children ever become a point of no worry? I don’t find this moment any different from my worries of her younger years. At least it wasn’t my decision to make this time as to have or have not the surgery.

It has been an hour and one half, for a one hour surgery….more worry and no news. The Doctor looked so young, how many of these could he have possibly done? I have no idea about this Hospital, why did I not research all this?

Her husband is told by the staff that the doctor wants him on the phone, my heart is in my stomach I feel sick. Is all okay, are they wanting permission to do something horrible, WHAT????? Here is where my control issues are running amuck, I am the Mom, give me the phone, you wont know what to say, please Lord make him listen and be serious, I say nothing and wait to hear the news. Which is good, all went well they are finishing up. I knew it. Control issues are not easy to live with.

The Doctor comes out, all went well, lots of news about how the surgery went and we find out it was good she did this, and did not wait… she will have a longer than expected recovery but all in all she is good and my baby will be fine.

We wait for our visit while things run through my head, knowing that all my worrying made it go well. See worrying does do good. You can never change my mind on that. My Grandmother, the worlds best worrier, told me that she and her sister would share their worries and give each other days off, I always thought that so wise.

I am Mom, I worry and fret. I will never master cooking, you will never wish to have my fashion abilities, you wont find my name in lights, or find me jetting around the world. But you can always count on me being by your side in times of need and being the best worrier ever.

Posted By Sharon Grannis on December 30, 2013 |Filed Under: Happy Tales and Trails •

Thanksgiving Weekend, AZ Style

This is the creek in which we are trying to find our forever home on.

This is the view from the opposite site… one day.

We visited Scottsdale on Sunday and this bronze statue was outside on the Main Street corner.

He moves, we sat and watched the reactions of the unsuspecting visitors.

So I have found a great local market that has a pizza oven in the market! You can shop for your groceries, wine, peanut butter and yes get a fire oven roasted Pizza!

Today we took the drive through Apache Trail. The views through out the drive are incredible.

Yet another stunning view.

There is a steamboat on the lake, it will take you about to see the stunning sites. This is on Canyon Lake

Tortilla Flats is along the trail, great stop for a bite to eat… I can recommend the chili dawg.

The original dam took 8 years to build!

What would a trip be without checking out spots for horse camping. This is at Cottonwood Coves.. just behind the dam. Nice… I am sure you will be seeing more of this area, via my horse’s back.

Posted By Sharon Grannis on December 3, 2013 |Filed Under: Happy Tales and Trails •

Silly Mountian AZ

Cactus Bones

Today is the 24th day of my move to AZ! Between work and traveling to CA to see husband and family I have not had much time to spend enjoying the State! Today I was able to get out and hike Silly Mountain

This is the chain of mountains next on my list of hikes…

This is the only pool of water we found on our hike today, after 3 full days of mostly non-stop rain, this is the only moisture I found on the trail…

Posted By Sharon Grannis on November 25, 2013 |Filed Under: Happy Tales and Trails, Uncategorized •